- How to move ahead without causing chaos
The final verdict in references filed against Nawaz Sharif will be delivered on Monday. Unsure of getting Shehbaz Sharif convicted through ongoing references, the NAB has decided to file a supplementary reference against him. While the JIT appointed by the Supreme Court to probe the fake accounts case has submitted its report, the PTI has filed a new reference against Zardari for failing to mention ownership of a New York apartment in his nomination papers. The possibility of the conviction of the leadership of the two mainstream parties cannot be ruled out. The cases have been investigated by overzealous bodies including NAB, FIA, and ISI and conducted by the accountability courts under the watchful supervision of the SC. The PTI leaders have already predicted that both the Sharifs and Asif Zardari would spend the rest of their lives in jail. Intriguingly, before the ten volumes prepared by the JIT were officially delivered to the SC a section of the media had begun releasing stories avowedly based on the JIT report.
Both PML-N and PPP have made plans to cope with the worst possible scenario. Both will pursue the cases in courts while giving the government a tough time through protests both inside and outside the Parliament. Both would reach out to other opposition parties for cooperation. The PML-N would kick start its mass contact campaign with the party workers’ convention scheduled for December 30.
The government needs peace to fulfill its promises and complete its tenure. A continuously aggressive posture by its information minister or a recourse to rough measures would make the situation more volatile at a time when a hike in inflation and rising power and gas charges are adding to a growing reservoir of discontent. The opposition has to realise that a breakdown in the system would encourage all types of forces which are out to destroy democracy including what Zardari called the ‘aggressive force with a passionate ideology’. The opposition has a long way to go to achieve it aims. Overcoming impatience in its ranks it has to gear up for a protracted parliamentary and legal fight.
